Young Blood
by EleKat
Summary: It's S.H.I.E.L.D policy that no active agent is to have a child. Any child born by an active agent will be given away or placed up for adoption. Mei is one of those children. After living her thirteen years with a retired agent, she is now living at the playground. What will happen in her life in the organization that took her away from her mother?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me. **

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters besides any OCs that appear.**

S.H.I.E.L.D took her baby. It was supposed to be as simple as that. At the time, she was one of their best agents, having a child would take her away from them. They could have that.

That was thirteen years ago.

Then Bahrain happened and her daughter was the last thing on her mind, till she started appearing in her dreams.

It haunted her. The fact that she had lost the child she had wanted so badly. She didn't know why they would do that, she didn't even get to hold her.

* * *

><p>Now, S.H.I.E.L.D is being rebuilt, and she is in the middle of it.<p>

"Where is Skye?" May asked after her agent doesn't show up for Tai Chi.

"Sent her on a mission early this morning, high school. Need to bring in a teenager who is showing abilities beyond her years," Coulson said. May nodded as she walked into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.

Internally, she elder woman was wondering what was so special about this teenager that they needed her. Was she super smart? Could she help Simmons? Fitz isn't how he used to be, so they still needed someone to help with that.

It was only a few hours later when they got notified that Skye and another girl were walking into the base.

"She'll need a lanyard…" Billy said as he watched as the two appeared.

The firs they saw was Skye, walking in in clothing that a teenager or civilian would wear. Converse, long pants, and a hoodie. Second was Bobbi, who had flown the plain, in her usually jeans and a t-shirt. Thirdly and last was a young girl. Obviously of Chinese decent, her skin was tan, and hair black. She was short, and very thin. She was wearing black leggings with small white dots on them, and a large, knit sweater which through you could see a white tank top.

"Welcome to the playground…?" Billy said as he made his way over.

"Mei," the girl said in a clear voice. Billy nodded but didn't write it down, it was obvious he would ask again later.

She looked around quizzically, her eyes were a deep blue and shone with something that nobody could place.

Silently, she ran her fingers through her hair. From her forehead to the back of her head. Her hair fell back into place after, perfect on her smooth skin.

"You must be Mei!" Jemma said from behind Coulson. Rushing forward, she went up to the young girl. Her expression didn't change as she saw Jemma, and didn't say anything. "I'm Jemma Simmons, can I take you to the lab? I want to get your blood type in case anything happens," Jemma said with a smile as she linked arms with the girl.

"Don't scare her…" Skye muttered as she looked at the two. She wasn't mad, just wanted to be cautious. The girl didn't seem to mind though, being dragged away.

Mei let herself be dragged down past Coulson and May, not making eye contact.

* * *

><p>"This will only hurt a little bit," Jemma said with a smile. Billy was also standing in the room with a clipboard of questions. May and Coulson were by the door, waiting.<p>

"Full name," Billy asked.

"Mei Zella Sung," Mei said without blinking as she watched the blood go into the tube.

"Date of birth?"

"October 31st 2001,"

"Where did you live?"

"New York City," Mei said without skipping a beat. It would seem as though she had practiced for these questions, planned answers.

She didn't flinch when the needle was taken out either. Coulson observed that she didn't flinch at all actually. She was like May in that way. Besides the names, pronounced the same.

She sat quietly as Jemma did a full body scan and then she was free from medical prodding.

"Why don't we show you where your room is going to be," Coulson said as he walked out with Mei on one said and May on the other. Skye followed quickly. "These are where all the rooms are, you'll get one on the BUS if you take it on a mission anywhere," he explained.

The young girl nodded and didn't speak. After being shown her room, she was left to unpack the bag that was sitting on the bed. Skye sat down on the chair that sat in the corner.

"So, you're from New York? The Big Apple?" she asked with a smile.

"Yes. Or well, I was. I was born in London England, a S.H.I.E.L.D base there, actually. Agents weren't allowed to have kids so I was taken away. Lived with some old retired agent my whole life," Mei explained as she put her clothes in the dresser. She didn't have that many, most of her bag was taken up by other things.

"Better than me, HYDRA killed my mom, my dad is psycho and S.H.I.E.L.D moved me around every few months," Skye said. Mei nodded as she placed some books on a shelf.

"I suppose," she said and then placed another box on the bed.

Neither girl talked as Skye watched the girl put away her things. It was one regular sized box, one suitcase, and one smaller box. All in all it included clothing, books, sheets, quilt, and art things. The girl seemed not to mind the company.

"You know, I wish I had this much stuff," Skye said with a frown. "They took my van when I got here, and now that I think about it never gave it back,"

"I doubt you'll get it back," she placed the empty boxes and suitcase under the bed. "The agency that took that from you, died. This is a new era, a new S.H.I.E.L.D."

Skye nodded along with what the girl was saying. In a way, it was a new era. A new time for the agency. The old one was gone, and replaced with this new one that was slowly coming about. The only problem with this one was that nobody knew if it would thrive, or crash and burn.


	2. Chapter 2

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters besides any OCs that appear.**

"Why is it so cold in here?" a voice broke through Skye's concentration as she punched the bag hanging from the wall. She missed a beat, and was suddenly off rhythm. She needed back on it or else May would be angry. That was never good.

Skye didn't know what to answer, she hadn't noticed it before but now she did. It was quite cold. Why was it like that, because they were encased in cement?

"I don't know," Skye said. Mei nodded and walked into Skye's eye sight. Today she was wearing skin tight leggings and a brown knit sweater that was form fitting, but Skye could see the lace like back. The girls hair was pulled up into a pony tail, revealing her ears which had three piercings, each.

She looked at the punching bag then Skyes hands. Watching as the older girl got into a rhythm.

"Doesn't that hurt?" she asked. Skye shrugged.

"As long as you punch the right way and have them covered it is fine. You're sore when you first start. The skin needs to become tough," Mei rubbed her hands subcontiously. It was obvious she didn't like that idea. Her nails were perfectly maniqured. Something that wouldn't be good if you wanted to punch something, or fight.

While Skye continued to punch, Mei went and sat down on a bench at the side of the gym. She pushed a ecersize ball out of her way with her sock covered foot.

When May walked in she saw the younger one sitting, watching, while the older one worked up a sweat. She didn't say anything as she knew that when Skye saw her she'd start her push ups.

"What are you doing?" she asked Mei without turning to look at the girl. Mei didn't seem to mind as she looked down at the blue mats.

"Watching," Mei said as she looked up again but not at the agent, at Skye. She stood up. "Skye, come by my room when you're… done,"

The young girl left the room without looking back. Skye figured she'd curl up on her bed. She complained she was cold after all.

* * *

><p>The next day the same thing happened. Mei came in, complained she was cold, and then sat down on the bench. This time she had a book in her hands.<p>

"Did you know they burnt books in Nazi Germany?" she said suddenly without looking up. "They didn't want people reading other thoughts, expecially if they were Jewish,"

Skye didn't know where this was coming from until she glanced over and saw the girl was reading a book based in Nazi Germany.

"Yeah. I did," Skye said with a nod. She'd read the book before when she was in high school and in one of her foster homes. She'd found it on the bookshelf.

They lapsed into silence again. As silent as it could be with Skye's fists pounding on the bag and the sound of pages rubbing against each other and flipping.

This was how the first week of Mei's time at the playground went. Her coming and visiting Skye in the gym, then telling her to come and see her in her room when May walked in.

At one point, Skye wondered why Mei wasn't asking to be taught. She seemed like the kind of kid who'd ask that. She didn't though, she just watched. Glances.

* * *

><p>On the eighth day of this routine, Mei brought in pencils and a book.<p>

She sat down silently, opened the metal container and pulled out a blue pencil. She also opened the page and brought the pencil down onto it.

There was no talk of the cold.

No random facts that Skye acted like she already knew.

Just the sound of punching and of a pencil on paper.

Skye had no clue what Mei was doing, but didn't say anything about it. Her amount of punches had been upped. She didn't know when May would walk in, when Mei would walk out.

This routine was becoming soothing. Something to look forward to, the quiet company of a young girl who always brought in something new.

When May walked in, and Skye was getting ready for her push ups, Mei placed her pencil back in the container and closed the lid with a quiet click.

It was a sound that was hardly heard. Yet, it was so loud that Skye thought it was the only sound she heard.

Mei stood and started for the exit of the room. Her notebook held to her chest, Skye watched as she left.

This happened for another week. Mei walking in with a pencil and book and drew. Skye didn't know what she was drawing, but she was okay with it.

* * *

><p>On the seventeenth day Mei didn't show up. Skye had no clue where the girl was.<p>

She didn't go look for her, she had an S.O. that would and could come in at any given time. She didn't want to get in trouble. No way.

After her training and shower, she made her way to Mei's room. It was empty. The bed was made, but the sketch book and pencils missing as much as the girl was.

Skye walked towards the lab to see if she could find Jemma.

Mei was in the lab, sitting on a counter as Jemma worked. Sketch book on her lap, pencil in hand. She would occasionally look up, but otherwise seemed satisfied with whatever she had drawn.

Skye didn't question her when the metal pencil holder was closed or when she held the book to her chest so only the slightly yellow blank page showed.

She walked with Mei down the hallway in silence, making up for their missing session from the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters besides any OCs that appear.**

"I'm so _bored_," Skye said. They hadn't had to go out for a while, and she was starting to get stir crazy from sitting there and doing nothing for so long. She had flopped down onto the couch beside Mei, who sat quietly with her legs crossed. Her blue dress folded over her legs, her black leggings covered her skinny legs.

Mei rolled her eyes as she looked down at the book that was in her lap. The cover had a picture of a finger about to hit some dominos. _The Book Thief_.

"I'm serious. I have no clue how you sit there and just… stare at words all day,"

"I don't stare at them, I absorb them," Mei said as she ran her finger over the side of the book. Books were Mei's life, Skye had noticed, and they meant so much that it was magical watching her with them.

"How? Though photosynthesis?" Skye asked.

"That's plants,"

"Osmosis then," Mei rolled her eyes. Then, something seemed to go off in them. An idea.

She seemed to contemplate it for a second before standing up.

"Where are we? Russia? Germany? England?"

"Switzerland I think…" Skye said as she gave Mei a weird look. Mei just walked off, but soon returned with Skye's jacket and boots. Her own were on her feet.

"Well, agent, we need to go out and buy a couple things," Skye was utterly confused. What were they doing? "I'll get Bobbi or someone to come if it makes you feel better," with a nod, Mei turned and walked off again.

About ten minutes later she reappeared with Bobbi and Hunter. The latter seemed annoyed by this, while the former was amused.

The four walked to one of the cars without a word, and silently left base and headed for a small town.

* * *

><p>The town was not that big, and Skye was wondering why they even needed to be there. They only left if they needed supplies.<p>

"We'll start getting groceries. You two get whatever you wanted to get," Bobbi said before dragging Hunter somewhere. Mei started off and Skye followed. She didn't want the young girl to get hurt or kidnapped.

They walked down the aisles, the other people ignored them. Finally they got to where Mei seemed to want them, the toy section.

"Aren't you a bit old?" Skye asked. She just received a roll of the eyes as Mei started to search. It didn't help that she didn't know, but finally they ended up where they were apparently supposed to go. Board games.

Mei, who had somehow gotten a cart on their walk, put 5 sets of 28 dominoes in. The tiles ranged from black to white, and Skye had no clue why they needed these.

After that, they went to the art section and Mei placed some more art supplies in. The two girls made their way to the clothing and grabbed some warmer clothing. Neither saying a word. Finally they went to the front where Bobbi and Hunter had a full cart.

"Think Coulson is going to kill us?" Hunter asked as he looked between the two carts. Mentally, he was figuring out how much this would all cost.

"His fault for not giving us a limit," Bobbi said with a shrug as they all put everything on the belt. While Bobbi talked to the person behind the desk, Mei looked around. Skye watched the girls eyes wander. She still wanted to know what the dominoes were for.

"Want to tell me now?" Skye asked after the art thing were placed in Mei's room. Mei led her way to the gym where, on the floor that was free of mats, she dumped the dominoes out.

"You said you were bored. I created a solution," she explained as she sat down and patted the floor. Skye followed her lead and sat on the cold, hard ground. Mei picked up a domino and held it in her hand. "This is an age old trick. Well, maybe not ages… but it helped when I was little,"

Mei started to make a line of dominoes standing up. Soon, Skye caught on and followed the girls lead.

Together, the two created a line of dominoes that twisted and turned. Soon, there was a second path leading to the middle.

"What are you both doing?" Mei didn't look up but Skye did. She recognized the voice of her S.O. and didn't want her to get mad.

"Making a domino line," Mei said without looking up before Skye could speak. May nodded and Skye wondered what she would do. May seemed hesitant, like she didn't know what to do. This was odd, because she never was hesitant. She always knew what to do in every situation. So this scared Skye.

Finally, the older woman left the room and the girls to their game.

After they finished, and just as Skye was admiring their work, Mei pushed one domino and slowly each tile descended. They all fell, and the world was left with the sound of a small crash. Skye was speechless and looked up at the clock which was on the wall. They'd been there three hours.

"Why did you do that?" she demanded. Mei did not speak. Only stood up. Without saying anything, she walked out of the room. Skye was confused, so very confused. What was that about? Why did Mei make a long thing of dominoes only to ruin it then walk away?

Skye did not want to clean up the little girl's mess, so she left it. She walked out of the gym, and left the floor littered with the small plastic.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, when she walked into the gym for her nightly training with May, the floor was clean. There was no evidence that there had ever been a young teenager and a young adult playing with dominoes.<p>

"Did you have fun?" May asked as they began their warm ups. Skye looked over at the floor where she had been sitting, only a few hours earlier, with the girl.

"No, not really. Dominoes are for kids," Skye said monotonously. May knew this was a lie though. She'd seen her, she knew what fun looked like when it shone in a person's eyes. It shone in Skye's, even if the young woman didn't realize it.


	4. Chapter 4

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

Skye and Mei didn't speak to each other. The two ate in silence, it was weird considering the two usually had quiet conversations. That part of the table was quiet. Unnaturally quiet.

Skye sat on one side of Coulson, beside her Jemma. May sat on the other side of Coulson with Mei beside her. Soon, Mei sat at the other end of the table with Bobbi and Hunter.

It was questionable, the silence. Nobody had been in the room when Skye got mad about the fallen dominoes. Nobody had seen Mei walk out quietly in her bare feet, making no sound.

"What is with you two?" Simmons finally said one day as she looked between the two. "One minute you're best friends and the next you refuse to talk to each other? What happened?"

Neither girl said anything. Everybody felt slightly awkward and Simmons blushed.

"Welcome to high school," Mei finally said before standing up and grabbing her plate with a half-finished piece of chicken on it, and bringing it to the kitchen. Placing it on the counter, she walked away and down the hall. Her feet made no sound.

* * *

><p>Mei's room is quiet. There is no sound except her footsteps as she walks in, disturbing the quiet. It hardly made a sound, but if listening closely, the sound of feet rubbing on carpet was heard.<p>

The young girl walked over to her bed. She looked down at the quilt, seeming to contemplate her next move.

She didn't like being trapped in a place where she couldn't leave, couldn't go see her friends, couldn't do anything… normal.

Sitting in a secret base with a bunch of agents was not normal. Especially when one was basically a ninja.

Mei walked over to her table that held the new sketch book, and considered drawing but decided against it. Instead, she grabbed her notebook and sat down on her bed with a pen, ready to write.

* * *

><p>"You know violence isn't an effective way to get anger out, right?" Skye turned to see Mei standing in the door way. It was almost in five the morning, the base was dark, and yet there walked the girl in her Pajamas.<p>

"You know sneaking up on someone punching a bag isn't good, right?" Skye said back. Rolling her eyes, Mei walked into the room and over to where Skye started to punch again. Not saying anything, she just watched for a bit. That was, until another person walked into the gym.

Neither girl heard her. Mei was focused on the sound that echoed around the room from Skye's hands hitting the bag. All Skye heard was the blood in her ears.

"Skye, I expected you here… though I was not expecting you aggressive… but Mei, why are you here?" Melinda May appeared in Mei's eyesight. The young girl shrugged without taking her eyes off of what Skye was doing.

Skye stopped punching, and after the last echoes rang through the room she started to pull the wrappings off of her hands. Mei started to leave the room when a voice made her halt. "Mei, I want to talk to you later,"

Nodding, Mei left the room. She walked down the dark hallways of the base. The main lights weren't on, and only the dim ones were. It was as though she was in a horror game, waiting for someone to jump out at her.

Sometimes she wondered if the underground got foggy. Maybe, someone would have a razor pointer, or a zombie would come out.

Well, technically Coulson was brought back from the dead. Maybe he was a zombie.

Mei sighed as she walked back to her room and climbed back into her bed. It wasn't warm any more, so unsatisfying.

* * *

><p>She was piling dominoes on top of each other when May walked into her room. The girl didn't say anything at first as she sat there on the floor, her knees under her, being imprinted on by the harsh fibers of the carpet.<p>

"What happened?" May asked.

"What do you mean?" Mei asked. She brushed a piece of her dark hair away from her face as she stacked another tile.

"With you and Skye. Why are you both not talking?" it was a valid question. Something that Mei didn't have a valid answer to, or any answer at all. She stuck with shrugging, and placed another domino on the stack, then began another one.

May stood there quietly. Mei knew that the old woman most likely wanted a real answer. Sometimes that involved words.

"Why do you go by May?" Mei asked. "If it your last name, shouldn't you go by Melinda?"

"Why do you go by Mei?" May asked. Their names sounded the same.

"Because that's my actual name," Mei said as she gave May a weird look.

May rolled her eyes. "Melinda is for people I am close with," she said. Mei seemed not to accept this answer though.

"That's stupid," she stated without looking up from the piles on her table. "You're close with almost everyone here that matters. They're basically your family, so obviously there is another reason for it. It's not my place though, I just think it's annoying that everyone calls us both Mei/May,"

All the tiles were now lined up in piles, and Mei stood up and wiped off her leggings as though there was something on them. They looked like a forest with lots of little green trees on them.

"What do you mean, _almost_? And we are not basically a family," May said as she walked and sat on the edge of the bed. Mei had a quilt that was black, but it was covered in sunglasses. Something she had picked up at target about two years prior.

"Common, it's not like you talk to every single person on this base. There are other people that are not your little team. Your family is basically you, Coulson, Skye, Tripp, Simmons, Fitz, Mack, Hunter and Bobbi. You and Coulson and like the parents and they're your dysfunctional kids," Mei said. "Anyone who has eyes can see it,"

May contemplated this. Now that a light was shone on it, it did seem as though she was the mother to these young adult. She was teaching them how to survive in this harsh world. She was bad cop, Coulson the good one.

"You know, sometimes you remind me of Rosa Hubermann," Mei said with a shake of her head. "Although, you don't call people filthy pigs…"

"Who?" May asked as she looked at the young girl oddly.

"You obviously don't read good books," Mei said as she shook her head and grabbed the water bottle off of her table. "Read _the Book Thief_ then get back to me on that one,"

May gave the teenager a look and stood up, she was about to walk out of the room when Skye came and popped her head in.

"DC called a meeting. Meet in his office in five," she said before leaving.


	5. Chapter 5

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

The walk to Coulson's office was quiet. Neither of the two with the same name said anything, but both knew that something was off. It was something different for both though.

For May, it was because Coulson never got someone else to come get her. She always got them herself or he would text her. For Mei, it was because she was never invited to these meeting. Maybe she'd get to go on a mission… bad idea.

Mei wasn't a fan of violence most of the time. Really, she just didn't like it when she had to inflict it. If anyone else wanted to, go right ahead. She wasn't going to participate though.

When they got to his office they saw Skye, Bobbi, Jemma and Fitz all waiting. Mack was in the garage still.

Mei looked around at all the adult's faces and felt out of place. She was thirteen, while all of them were at least 24.

"The SSR was a secret organization that helped the allies in the Second World War," Coulson said to the team. Mei had a feeling that was more for her benefit though. "Nobody outside of S.H.I.E.L.D knows about it. At least, they didn't used to. A school in Canada has a book on it. We need to go in and retrieve this book.

Mei realized this was why she got to know. She had to go back into high school.

Wonderful.

"Sir, how will we do this though?" Jemma asked. "Will Mei go in and get it?"

"It's a restricted book. Only certain students are allowed to get it," Coulson explained. "So, we all will be going in. Posing as a family. You'll gain trust with the keeper and get the book. Then we'll disappear,"

Mei looked around at everyone. Nobody seemed particularly happy about this.

"Agent May will be posing as a substitute PE teacher. She might get the book quicker if she becomes friends with that teacher. Otherwise, Jemma, Fitz, Skye and Mei will be in the high school. There is a second copy in the college. Bobbi, Hunter and I will work there,"

Mei was not very pleased with this. "Will we be your kids, sir?" Jemma asked.

"Yes. You'll all be pretending to be adopted for the most part," Coulson said before handing out files. Mei looked at hers but didn't pick it up. "These files hold everything you will need to know. I want you to study this till you are it, dismissed,"

Mei sighed and picked up the file, sadly, and walked off. She did not plan on this. Pretending to be two adults kid was not on her list of things she planned for life. Right under _living on a secret base_.

She closed her room's door as soon as she entered and fell down onto her bed. She sighed and stared up at the grey ceiling. She wished she didn't have to live in this place.

When she had been told originally that she was moving she had thought to a mansion or with someone who had a nice house and yard.

Dreams don't come true though, and now she lived in an underground base.

Pulling the blanket at the bottom of her bed up, she curled underneath it and pulled a paper out of the folder.

_Name: Violet Blossom Miller_

_Parents: _

_Charlie Miller_

_Isabella Miller_

_Siblings:_

_Summer Miller (biological)_

_Sophie Miller (adopted)_

_Max Miller (adopted)_

_Michelle Miller (Uncle's wife)_

_Kyle Miller (uncle)_

_Eighth grader, the youngest child_

Mei stared down at this. Her name was Violet? A colour. Her name was a _colour._

She was glad that at least she wasn't named after a season, but still. Well, usually she was a month but still.

She sighed and let her mind wander. Where would they be going?

It was winter, mid-January, wouldn't Canada be cold? Didn't they have polar bears?

Those questions went through her head and Mei knew she needed to find someone to answer this.

Now.

* * *

><p>"Skye," Skye looked around confused. She was in her bedroom and didn't know where the person calling her name was coming from.<p>

She heard her name again and slowly walked towards the door, the source of it. She didn't know what was going on, and she couldn't put a name to the voice.

That was, until she opened the door and saw Mei standing on the other side of it.

"Mei! You scared me!" Skye said as Mei gave her a look.

"I scared you? All I did was call your name," Skye rolled her eyes as the teenager made her way into the room. "I need you to answer something for me," she said.

"Sure. What?" Skye asked as she sat down on the bland bed spread.

"Are there polar bears in Canada?" Mei asked in a serious tone. Skye started to laugh until she saw that Mei wasn't joking.

"Well, up north. Not where we are going, though." Skye said. Mei nodded, and seemed to be thinking for a second before turning around and walking off. "Yeah! No problem!" she called after the retreating form.

* * *

><p>They were in British Columbia. Mei was freezing cold, it was snowing.<p>

They were in their house, the one that they were using as a cover house. Really, she didn't know how they got it since technically S.H.I.E.L.D didn't exist anymore but she didn't question it.

The house didn't have an insane amount of rooms. Which lead to May and Coulson sharing one, Bobbi and Hunter sharing one, Fitz having his own, Skye and Jemma sharing, and Mei sleeping in her own.

The two basement bedrooms were being used by Mei, and May and Coulson. Everyone else was upstairs.

Mei was hiding in the room that she knew she'd leave soon, and smiled as she was for once in an actual bedroom. The window was small, but it was still a room.

She liked being able to go above ground. Even if it was bloody cold.

"Mei, come on we need to go out and get some stuff!" Skye called down the stairs. Mei sighed, she knew that this wouldn't last too long.

Silently, she got up and walked up the stairs, dragging her feet.

Upstairs, all the girls were getting ready to go out.

"Where are you going?" Mei asked. She directed her question towards Skye as she stared up at the older girl.

"We, you too, are going to get some warmer winter clothing," Bobbi answered as she threw Mei's sweater over at her. She'd left her coat at the playground, not realizing it would be so cold.

Mei sighed and followed them out into the snow. It was also windy, which didn't help at the snow and cold air was blown into their faces.

May got in the driver's seat. They had two cars here, a van that could fit all of them, and a car. Of course they took the van.

Mei sat in the very back since she didn't want to be squished between people. She wondered if she could get away with laying down across the seats… she tried.

Slowly she undid her seat belt as moved down till she was laying. She'd thought she had gotten away with it when she was fully laying, but she apparently hadn't.

"Violet, sit up," May said from the front. Of course, they had already started this. Outside of the house they called each other by the names assigned to them. Mei hated it.

Mei sat back up and tapped her fingers on her legs. She hadn't brought her ipod, a lack in judgement.

"Can I bring my ipod to school tomorrow?" Mei asked as she leaned forward so she was resting on the seats in front of her.

"No," May said.

"Why not?" Mei asked. Her chin was propped up on the back of the seat. She knew she probably looked like an idiot, but she didn't know who would care enough to fix it.

"Because someone may look at it," May said. From her seat, Mei knew she was trying the woman's patients.

"But I need music. Without music I will fall into an oblivion that I can never be brought out of. It is dark, I've almost slipped there before,"

Mei almost felt like laughing at the look Skye was giving her.

"I will buy you one at the mall," May said. Mei smirked as she leaned back in the seat. Her work was done.

* * *

><p>The mall was huge and Mei was silently wondering how she wouldn't get lost. She was getting tired of trying to keep up with everyone. So far they had just walked in and looked around. Suddenly May turned around to look at them.<p>

"I don't want to be dragged around everywhere you go. So, we will meet at the food court in three hours," she said. Mei shrugged and took the money offered to her and turned around to walk off and go buy her own stuff.

She hated going into other stores. Ones that she didn't know, so she went to ones she did know. In bench, she got an ice blue jacket, a pink sweater that was really soft inside, a pink snowbean dress and a pink knit hat.

She also went into gap and got a black dress with blue roses on it, and ripped jeans.

Finally, after getting winter boots, uggs, converse, gym clothes, leggings, an onesie, some neff beanies, toms, notebooks, a backpack, a tighter dress, heels, and some more sweaters, Mei made her way to the food court.

She noticed that she was the only one there beside May, she was only ten minutes early but felt awkward.

She slowly walked over to the table, and when she was there sat down. May didn't say anything to her as she was on her phone.

"The other girls said they'd be a bit," May finally said. Mei nodded and looked down at her hands. "Come on, like look around,"

Mei was shocked but didn't say anything as she grabbed her bags and followed the woman with the same name.

They walked to the electronics store and walked in. There were lots of people, and Mei considering staying close to May but didn't. She walked over to the display of Ipods and sighed. She really wanted one.

She wasn't saying hers was bad… it just wasn't touch screen.

"Which one is the best one?" she heard May's cool voice say somewhere behind her. She looked around until she saw May and a man that obviously worked there walking over to her.

"I would say 64 gig is your best bet," the man said. "What colour do you like?" he turned to ask Mei.

"Uhh… pink?" Mei asked. He nodded and went to grab something. Mei turned to May. "Wait, I'm actually getting one?" she asked.

May nodded but didn't say anything as the man walked over with it. Mei smiled as he handed her the box and they went up to the front. "Do you know how to set it up, kid?"

"Yeah," Mei said with a smile.

"You look just like your mom, you know that?" he said. Mei felt weird being told that, but shrugged it off. She could tell from the way May's hand was resting on her shoulder that she wasn't comfortable with that. They weren't related so it bugged her, like it should.

"Thanks," Mei said lamely. He nodded, and after May paid the two walked out of the store. Mei eyed bath and body works but didn't say anything as the two of them walked back to the food court where the others were waiting.

* * *

><p>The car ride back was the adults talking about what they had bought while Mei held her new ipod box in her hands.<p>

Just before the food court, May had gotten Mei a case for the ipod so it wouldn't get broken. Mei couldn't wait to put it on it, it was a panda.

Getting back they saw that the car was gone, meaning the boys had gone out to get some stuff too. All of them got out of the van and grabbed their own things. Mei refused to take two trips so she was holding everything she got.

Skye laughed and shook her head at the girl as they made their way inside.

"Take trips down the stairs, Mei," May warned as she helped the girl put bags on the ground so she could take off her coat. Mei rolled her eyes but did what May told her to do. Really she didn't want to fall before she had to go to school. That would suck.

Walking into the room that was 'hers' was weird. She knew it was hers, it was supposed to be anyways, but it didn't feel like it. She felt like she was invading some other person's space. It felt wrong.

She sighed and put her things away before pulling out her old laptop and placing it on the desk and plugging her new ipod into it. She wasn't ready for this, for her new ipod to become fully her own.

It was a magical feeling when she finally had it set up. Of course, the backgrounds were default but she could fix that easily.

She knew she needed to make it something that would look like she had just come from a different school, so after searching through her facebook she got a picture of herself and her old friend.

Mei looked at the clock and saw it would almost be a normal time to eat dinner (but with this group, they could end up eating at midnight) so she went upstairs to see what everyone was doing.

* * *

><p>She saw a neighbour sitting in the living room with May and Coulson, they were all talking and May was… smiling.<p>

This was a shock for the young girl since the adult never usually smiled, well that she saw.

"Is this your daughter," the lady nodded towards Mei. She realized that she hadn't been hiding as well as she thought she had been.

"Yes, our youngest, Violet," Coulson said as he beckoned her forward. Mei smiled awkwardly as she walked forward and looked down towards the ground. Just as she would when her father before tried to introduce her to someone new.

Mei sat down next to May and when May gave her a side hug she was ultra-scared. Either May was a brilliant actor, or was mad at her and trying to kill her with kindness. Mei hoped it was the first option.

"How old are you, Violet?" the lady said as she turned to her.

"Thirteen," Mei said. That was the truth, she could work with truth. Make the lies as close to the truth as you can and maybe one day they'll turn into it.

"My daughter is your age… she's already started discovering boys…" Mei wrinkled her nose at the mention of boys. Who needed to date these days? "Not into them yet? Don't worry, it will come soon,"

Mei highly doubted that but that lady didn't need to know that.

"Why don't you go tell Michelle to start dinner?" Coulson said. Mei nodded and stood up, walking out. She didn't know who Michelle was but at least now she got out of that conversation.

"Oh no, it's okay I'll go I need to start dinner anyways," The lady said as she stood up and May walked her towards the door. "Have a nice day, and I'll see you around," she said with a smile.

May nodded and smiled at her before closing the door.

Mei didn't say anything as she watched Coulson and May. She was cold from the gust of air that came through the door though, and rubbed her bare arms.

"Who's Michelle?" Mei finally asked.

"Bobbi," Coulson replied as he ruffled Mei's hair. The young girl swatted his hands away. He was not allowed to mess up her hair, she liked it the way it was and was not okay with it being messy.

Nodding, Mei glanced up at May to make sure she had stopped being weird. Thankfully she had.

Mei walked back to the living room and curled up on the couch that was closest to the fireplace. She was starting to download apps when May walked into the room with a book and sat on the other chair.

Soon enough Skye entered the room too.

"Why isn't the fireplace on?" she asked.

"Be my guest," May said without looking up. Skye rolled her eyes as she walked over and sat down next to Mei.

"Show me your new ipod," Skye said with a smile at the girl. A small smile placed itself on the girls face as she locked the ipod then turned it on so she could give Skye the full tour of it.

"This is the lock screen," she said as she turned it on to show her.

"Who's the girl your with?" Skye asked as she looked down at the glowing picture.

"My friend Amanda. She was from New Orleans but moved to New York when we were eleven," Mei explained as she slid her finger right, unlocking it. The home screen background was still the same.

The two girls went through the different apps that Mei had gotten so far and Skye put in her cellphone number and some other numbers that Mei might need.

They did that until dinner, which was spaghetti. It was a simple meal that was easy to prepare for their first night.

The adults discussed what they had bought, with Fitz sometimes struggling with his sentences.

After dinner, Mei went back down to her room and curled up in a ball on her bed.

She grabbed the file off of the floor where she had dropped it when 'moving in' and pulled out another sheet.

_Personality: shy but loves to act and draw. Mommy's girl. Quiet._

Mei knew she could work with almost all of that. Quiet? Got that covered. Draw? She liked to draw. Act? She was acting right now, wasn't she? Shy? Well that was easy. She put the file down again and pulled up a blanket.

The blanket covered her head as she went onto YouTube and started to look up videos to entertain herself with.

Mei fell asleep in the middle of a video about a drunk makeup challenge. Her ipod still playing but plugged into a wall charging at the same time.

Mei wouldn't remember her dream in the morning, but she was dreaming about her dad and her time before the accident.

**This chapter is about three of my usual sized chapters that I have been doing for this story so far.**

**This is dedicated to JoMiSm for her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLIE**


	6. Chapter 6

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

Mei stood beside the car in her jacket and boots looking unimpressed.

This idea of going back to school was not fun in her mind. Nope, not at all.

"You need to get in the back," Skye said as she stood beside her. Mei glared at the older girl and kept where she stood.

"I sat there yesterday," she said. Skye rolled her eyes. Mei knew it was childish. She was supposed to be the youngest child though, might as well act like it.

"Why are you two taking so long?" May asked as she walked over with the keys so she could warm up the car.

"Violet is being childish," Skye complained.

"Well I sat in the back yesterday," Mei could tell after May sighed that she was weighing her options.

Both girls stared at the woman.

"Summer, in the back," May said. Mei smiled at her. "Sophie, you're in the front," she continued. Jemma, who was walking down the side, smiled as she got in the front. Fitz and Mei got into the middle.

The five sat in silence for the drive and Mei wondered if the school was close enough that she could just walk one of these days.

Not even at the school on her first day and she was hoping it was closed.

When they got there everyone got out of the car and the siblings started off to their classes. May had printed out their schedules yesterday, so they just had to figure out where everything was.

Mei walked into the school and down the hallway. Looking at the locker numbers through the groups of people. This school was huge and she felt as though it was a bad plan coming here not knowing where anything was. Of course, even if it was a bad plan she was there and nothing could fix that.

Finally, she found her locker. 91. Quietly she walked over to the locker and opened it, seeing it was empty.

Quietly, Mei placed her old school things inside it and looked down at her schedule. She found it odd that she only got four classes a day instead of six or eight.

She walked to her first class, English, following the map that was given to her. When she got to the class she saw that teaching was a middle aged lady with her greying brown hair in a ponytail.

According to her schedule this was Mrs. Folly.

"Hi, I'm the new student, Violet," Mei said. Mrs. Folly nodded and looked through her list before telling Mei to sit wherever she'd like.

Mei sat in the back by the window, and stayed sitting there as all the students walked in. Some of them gave her odd looks, other ignored her completely.

When the bell finally rang, Mrs. Folly looked over her students.

"I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, but it is now time to get back to work, we also have a new student. This is Violet Miller," she said as she motioned towards where Mei was sitting.

Mei did a slight wave before looking down at her notebook. She picked up her pink pen and started to doodle in the margins as the class started to silent read. She didn't have a book yet.

Mei was bored, usually this wouldn't both her but she felt people staring at her back.

Pulling her ipod out of her hoodie pocket for a second, she looked down at the screen to see that she had no notifications. Wonderful.

"I want you all to think about what book you'd like to do for the book study," Mrs. Folly said as she motioned for all the books to go away. Mei sat up straighter as she listened. "I want you all to choose a book you'd like, something that you'll be interested in,"

As Mei wondered, she noticed some of the students whispering to each other. "For now, I want you all to work on your assignments,"

All of the students started to get up to leave the room when Mrs. Folly motioned for Mei to come to her desk. Mei stood and walked over with her notebook and purse in hand.

"Violet, Friday we started a new project. You need to write on yourself. This is not an essay, but it is also not a paragraph. You need to write on who you are, okay?"

Mei nodded but was wondering how she'd do that since this was a lie. Then she remembered, the best lies are as close to the truth as possible.

* * *

><p>Her next class was photography. Apparently they had just started this semester, and somehow Mei had gotten an easy one.<p>

She sat down in one of the corner seats of the computer lab as the teacher walked in. Apparently this was second photo, therefore the students who took this one had previous photography background.

"Hey, can we sit here?" a girl with blonde hair asked.

"Of course," Mei said with a smile. The blonde smiled at her before sitting down with two other girls. Each computer row had four computers, it was nice.

Mei wondered if these girls were going to end up as her friends, which would be nice. To have friends.

"I am assuming you all remember the basics that I've taught you in years or semesters previous?" Mei looked up at the sudden intrusion of a voice in her mind to see the teacher. "I want to do snow pictures for our first unit, just to get you all used to the camera's again. Then I'd like to go to fashion," Mei wondered if this first class was last semester.

She then realized she didn't have a camera, and even though the teacher would obviously lend her one she didn't want to borrow one. She wanted her own.

Mei was about to pout about this when they all started to leave. She had no clue what to do, and guessed it was obvious because the blonde turned to her.

"Want to come with us?" she asked.

"Yes please," Mei smiled at her as she walked out with the group of girls.

As they made their way outside, Mei was glad she hadn't changed shoes. There was lots of snow for Canadian January and she supposed more was to come.

Mei was cold but didn't tell anyone as they started to snap photos.

She walked out into the snow, feeling awkward and not wanting to ask for the camera. There was a snowball that was already made so she stood on that and saw that it was easy to stand on and only a little icy. She had her arms crossed and was looking down, when she heard the camera click.

She looked up to see the blonde had snapped a picture of her.

"This looks so cool," the blonde said. "Want to see, Violet?" she asked.

Mei nodded, not knowing how this person knew her fake name, and jumped down. She walked over and the girl passed her the camera.

On it was a good picture of her looking down, balanced on the snowball with her arms crossed.

"I like it," Mei said. The blonde smiled.

"You take some pictures,"

Mei realized, she had somehow made a friend. Even if she didn't know this girls name.


	7. Chapter 7

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

The concept of school was to get good grades. It doesn't matter what you learn. They say they want you to understand, to learn the material that is in your books, but in reality you're just gonna have to memorize it. You'll forget it all in the end because it doesn't matter, nobody really cares. You just need the grade.

Mei had learnt that years ago. Who cares if she understand, it only matters if she can repeat the information in front of her.

She had two last classes of the day, physical education and math. Mei was aware she was bad at math, and had tried to convince Coulson not to put her in it. It didn't work.

In Physical Education, her class was at the same time of Skye and Jemma. Different teachers though, May was their teacher, someone named Mr. Filch was theirs.

Mr. Filch was a large, round Italian man who looked through large glasses and beady eyes. He scared Mei a bit, but she didn't let it show.

At lunch she'd met a boy, Gus, who she was now standing with. She found it easier to be around him because he didn't talk much either. Apparently he had been in her English class but she hadn't seen him.

In her last class, Math, she was handed a textbook and work sheets. Their teacher apparently didn't teach, just showed them their work and let them teach themselves. Then he left, Mei smelt weed, so she presumed he was off to do that.

After school she met everyone at the car and they made their way home.

This repeated itself all week, the act of going to school and coming back, acting as though they were one big happy family.

In reality though, they were sort of a big family, but not hugely happy.

"It's easy!" Jemma said as she tried to explain the types of numbers to Mei. "There are natural numbers, which start at one, they go _one, two, three, four, five, six, _etc. Then there are whole numbers which is _zero, one, two, three, four, five, six_, etc. Then-"

"Wait, why are there whole numbers? Aren't they just natural?" Mei asked as she stared at the bio-chemist.

"No, they're different. They have the zero-"

"_But why _do they have the zero in it. Why can't natural and whole just be the same thing there is no point in naming the same thing different things,"

"They aren't the same Mei, there is a zero,"

"Why is there a zero?"

"I don't know!"

Mei sighed and gathered her stuff. "Math is useless. I give up," without another word the young girl headed back down to the basement.

The basement lounge was set up, but was only used by Mei. There was a small TV and some board games. Mei usually just played a game by herself or read. Sometimes she watch TV, but not much.

Today she pulled out her dominoes and started to line them up correctly again so they'd all fall.

"You know, you never explained to me the point of them falling," Skye said as she made her way down the stairs with laundry. That was the problem, the laundry was in the basement.

"Their all the bodies that fall. There the lines of people that are simply dying. The ones that are still standing while these fall are the ones that are simply waiting for death, like we are. The whole purpose of our lives is to die," Mei stated as she pushed down the tiles closest to her and let them all fall. One stayed up though. "When one stays up, it has believed it has cheated death. Nobody has though, and nobody will,"

Skye stared at the younger girl, trying to process what she had just heard.

"The whole point of dominoes falling is death?" Skye asked. Mei nodded. "That is the most messed up, sadistic thing I've ever heard," she stared at the girl wondering if she had anything to say for herself.

Mei didn't speak for a while, just stared at the dominoes that littered the small tables top.

"I suppose. It is true though,"

Skye just shook her head and walked into the laundry room. Mei sighed and pushed her things away before going into her room, leaving the mess of dominoes to sit on the table. She didn't say anything as she opened her laptop.

Rap music in another language started playing as the lid was lifted. Mei sighed as she logged into her account and waited for the computer to load. She had the laptop for a long time, it was either windows seven, or windows XP. She wasn't completely sure.

She logged into her facebook account, _mzsung _she wasn't sure what was going to happen but noticed she had a message.

Clicking on it, she saw it was some guy from her old school.

_Hope you are gone from this earth. Heard you left and just wanted to send some last words: you don't deserve air_.

Mei sighed. This happened a lot, she had gotten in a fight with one of her old friends before moving. The friend extremely popular, Mei was not.

Mei logged out again as fast as she logged in (which wasn't fast since she hadn't been able to figure out her password).

* * *

><p>Her next day wasn't any better, it was Monday and Mei had brought a bottle of coke zero to school and was opening it when it sprayed all over her. After being laughed at by her math class, and going to change during break, she had gone to photo for the teacher to take away her ipod when she was messaging Skye to ask if her coke had basically exploded too.<p>

In PE the teacher made her run around the track more than she thought she was physically capable of. Then when she fell he got angry with her! Then during four corner soccer she got hit in the face and got a nose bleed, which she also got in trouble for.

When walking down the hallway after school, the zipper of her sweater had gone too low and people could see her tank top, which got her called a slut by some boy.

She had also noticed her vision was slightly blurry.

After school Mei got out to the car and got scolded for being late by May before they were off. She had to sit in the very back.

"I just want to get home. I forgot how much I hated high school," Skye said as she stared out the window of the front.

When they got back, Coulson gave her a weird look since he knew that wasn't the outfit she had left in. Mei glared at him before running downstairs and curling up on her bed.

Dinner wasn't better, after refusing to eat the steak (Mei decided to turn vegetarian) and getting the scary voice from May, she went to bed and fell asleep right away.

Mei decided that school was too hard, but still went the next day.

She was done though when walking down the hallway (late) to her class, and some boy went up behind her, undid her bra (because the back of her shirt was lace) and then ran off laughing.

Mei was done, she just sat on the ground in the middle of the hallway with her legs pulled up to her chest, face pressed into them, for the whole period.

At lunch, Mei walked home after messaging Skye saying she was leaving then putting her device on air plane mode so she wouldn't get any messages.

Mei walked home in her hoodie and news print leggings, and when she got home curled up in her blanket and turned on Netflix.

She put on Bones and stared at the television mindlessly. She never felt so defeated. Why was high school so hard? She didn't remember it so hard.

"Mei!" she heard someone yell as the front door slammed shut. Mei tried to tune out the voice as the person walked downstairs. "Mei why in the world are you home?" the voice was angry. She looked up to see Coulson. Skye probably messaged him. "Not to mention I messaged you at least twelve times, you could have answered!"

Mei had never seen Coulson angry before. May yes, Coulson no. Mei didn't say anything as she glanced at him then back at the TV.

"I am not going back. I want to be home schooled, or not schooled. I wasn't schooled at the playground," Mei stated. The television suddenly went black. "I was watching that!" she said in a huff as she glared up at the man.

"Mei… whatever your full name is, you cannot just leave the school because you're having a bad day!" Coulson yelled. "Now I had to leave my job-"

"That _isn't even_ your job! You don't _have _a normal job! You're a director of an international agency that shouldn't even exist," Mei said with a roll of her eyes before she stood up. "I'm going to my room,"

Coulson seemed to be thinking of a response. "No you aren't young lady!" he said in a strained voice. Upstairs the door opened and shut, Mei got a glance at May as she made her way down the stairs.

"You aren't my father, you can't just tell me what to do. I don't even work for you, I don't even know why I am here," Mei said before turning around and going back into her bedroom.

Mei knew deep down that she was being unreasonable and dramatic. That was the thing though, in a teenagers mind all these things were a huge problem. Everything is magnified, and so there was a feeling magnified inside of her that she couldn't tell what it was.

Guilt? Sadness? Loss? Mei felt an emptiness inside of her that she didn't know what to fill it with. So she curled up on her bed under a blanket, thinking of her old Agent, and wondering what would have happened if he was still alive.


	8. Chapter 8

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

Usually people didn't want to be seen in the library, so Mei found it easiest to stay in there. Of course, that didn't help when she went to PE class and had to be under the beady eyes of Mr. Filch.

"Today we will be combining with Mrs. Miller's class. We're doing the beep test. For those of you who hasn't done it before, every time there is a beep you run to the other side of the gym. Miss two beeps in a row and you're out,"

All the girls were first, and Mei lined up alongside the blonde from photo and an overweight girl.

As the first beep sounded Mei ran easily.

When it came to the tenth, the girl beside her was red faced and seemed in pain. "You can do it," Mei whispered to her. She didn't want this girl to be the first out; that would be embarrassing. The first out turned out to be some girl that had a tattoo in the older class.

At one point, Mei wondered what it was like to have to do these regularly. For someone that had been out of school for over a month or more, it was weird to be doing one. Especially because her old school never did.

Finally Mei was one of the last two to go out. The two went off at the same time, her and one of the girls in the older class. Her lungs felt like they were going to explode, and there was a burning in her throat.

She sat down against the wall and was glad for its coolness against her heated skin. She looked to her right to see Skye looking at her, and looked to see that May had even looked at her for a second. Mei knew she wasn't about to die, but apparently they thought she was.

Gus was the first off for her class, and came and sat down next to her.

"Those things are torture," he said.

"Are you okay…?" Mei asked as he seemed to be having troubles breathing. By then she had mostly gotten hers under control, but he seemed much worse.

"Yeah, it's fine," he said.

Gus was a chubby boy who found fun in playing videogames and watching lets plays on YouTube.

The two watched the other students.

"Do you have money for lunch today? I forgot mine at home," he said suddenly.

"Yeah, do you want it?" Mei asked. After all this running, she knew she couldn't stomach food.

"If that is okay with you?"

"My mom works here, if I need money I can just ask her. It's totally fine," Gus smiled at her as the last boy finished.

Everyone stood up, they knew that the rest of the class they'd all be doing an activity together.

The boy that had been rude to her was in the older grade, Mei realized when he looked at her from where he stood with Skye's class.

"We'll be playing dodge ball, grade eights against grade 12," Mr. Filch said as he and May stood beside each other. Some of the more-into-PE students started getting the balls set up, Gus and Mei stood at the back against the wall.

Gus seemed nervous and was sweating buckets already.

"Calm down, its fine," Mei said to him quietly. He nodded but didn't seem convinced.

When the whistle was blown they all started to get the balls over to their side. Mei grabbed one of them but didn't move from her spot. She knew that nobody would try and attack her if she stayed still.

She was correct too, till she tried to hit the boy that had called her a slut. That was when everything went downhill.

Mei had missed hitting him, but she didn't miss the look in his eyes when he realized what she had tried to do. She swallowed before trying to dash for a different one, but was too late when she got hit in the face.

Nobody had noticed, but she went off to the side where Gus was sitting. The guy had a smirk on his face and Mei sat down next to Gus with her hand on her face.

"He hit you on the face!" Gus said.

"In the face," Mei corrected as she pulled her hand away to see that her nose was bleeding pretty hard. "I need to get him back Gus,"

"If someone catches the next ball, you go in instead of me," Gus offered. Mei nodded and just then someone caught one. Mei wiped her nose on the back of her hand, leaving a line of red, as she stood up and went back onto the court.

Nobody had noticed yet, or if they did didn't say anything. She picked up a ball, and when the boy was not paying attention she threw it so it hit him in the shoulder, hard.

He sore loudly. "LANGUAGE GREY," Filch yelled.

"I'm going to the washroom," Mei called as she walked off the court and into the girls change room. The bell was due to ring soon, so slowly students started to trickle into the room.

Mei changed back into her white tank top and lace black top, and her Cheshire cat leggings. Then she walked over to the sink and grabbed paper towel to try and stop her bleeding nose.

"Good throw," Skye said as she walked over to the mirror to brush her hair.

"Thanks," Mei said as she continued to hold the paper to her face.

"Violet, what are you doing?" Skye asked as she looked at her. Mei didn't say anything, but Skye noticed when she pulled the paper towel away from her face. "Shit, what happened?"

"The guy I hit threw a ball at my face," Mei said dryly.

"Let's go tell mom." Skye said. Mei shook her head but Skye wouldn't hear it, and instructed her to grab her things.

Mei grabbed her bag, and took the money out of it.

Gus was waiting outside the bathroom for her, and she handed it to him before walking with Skye to the office that May was using.

The two walked in and May took a second to look up, she was trying to be realistic. Skye closed the door so nobody could hear them.

"What did you do?" May asked as she motioned for Mei to sit down across from her on the spare chair. Mei sat down.

"I got hit in the face," Mei stated as May started to check to make sure her nose wasn't broken.

"It isn't broken, but it is bleeding pretty well," May said before getting out a first aid kit and gently pinching Mei's nose.

The three were in silence for a few minutes. "You can go Summer," she said. Skye nodded to her S.O. before leaving the room.

Mei hoped that it would stop bleeding soon so she could leave. She and Gus had made another friend, a girl names Angelica, and they had plans for lunch.

"Want to talk about yesterday?" May asked as she pulled her hand away to make sure the bleeding had stopped. It had, but Mei needed to wipe the blood off of her face.

"Not particularly," Mei said without saying more than that. May rolled her eyes as she grabbed a sterol wipe and gently got all the blood off of Mei's face and threw it out.

"You have to at some point, we're not avoiding the subject forever," May stated. "Done," she added. "Try not to get another injury today," Mei nodded before grabbing her things and leaving the room.

She quickly went to her locker then to the upstairs windows where Gus and Angelica were waiting for her.

"Sorry, my mom had to fix my nose," Mei said as she hopped up onto the clean part of the ledge. They nodded that it was fine and then went back to their card game on the floor.

Nobody came to this end of the school usually since it was old and mostly dirty but the three of them didn't care, it was fine to them.

Mei sighed as she watched Gus wolf down a burrito.

"Violet, you wanna come over after school?" Gus asked as he swallowed. "I can teach you how to play Mario,"

"I just have to ask," Mei said as she pulled out her iPod and messaged May. About a minute later she had a response. "It's all good," she said with a smile.

* * *

><p>Gus' house was small, but Mei thought that it was homey.<p>

The inside was moderately clean. "My parents are at work," Gus had explained to Mei as they walked into the kitchen. Gus had said that they'd get a snack because Mei hadn't eaten lunch and he was hungry. She didn't want to tell him she wasn't even hungry.

Gus made them popcorn, extra buttery. Mei thought it looked horrible, it was soaked in grease! She didn't say anything about it though and ate some of it.

When they got into his room, Mei wondered if a bomb had gone off and if FitzSimmons had something to fix this type of destruction. The room was _horribly_ messy. So bad that she didn't know how she could walk.

Gus swept clothing off of two chairs (onto the practically non-existent floor) and they sat down in front of his television and he turned on the Xbox.

"I also have one of the connects, but there isn't a lot of room to move around for it…" he trailed off.

"Its fine," Mei said with a small smile as they started the game.

She wasn't that bad, but it was still confusing. Mei never played video games, she had watched Mack and Fitz play some at the playground but that was all.

The two played the game in silence till they heard someone walk in the front door.

"_I'M HOME_!" she heard someone call.

"_HI MOM!_" Gus called back. She wondered if this was how they talked in this house. At her house, that would not go over well. "_VIOLET IS HERE_"

"_OH HI VIOLET_" his mom yelled.

"Hi Mrs. Young!" Mei called but not as loud as Gus. She heard some heavy footsteps come closer till the door opened and a face appeared in it.

She looked like a female version of Gus except with piercing blue, bloodshot eyes.

"I'm sorry for my son's mess, Violet," she said with a large, yellow toothed grin. Mei smiled back hesitantly. "Will you be staying for dinner?"

"Its fine, and no, sorry. My parents want me back for dinner," Mei said. Mrs. Young nodded in understanding.

"Well, it is five now so I'll give you a ride home. Come along dear, come on Gus," the two teens made their way out of the maze of a room and got on their outdoors things.

They got into the back of the old ford car and it started with a loud roar. Mei wondered if this was safe, with all the snow on the road and most likely black ice under it.

She didn't say anything though as they drove down the road. Once they got to the area where Mei's house was, Mei directed them to it.

"Thank you for driving me home," Mei said kindly.

"You're welcome dear, come over anytime," Mrs. Young said.

"Thanks,"

"Bye Mei, see you tomorrow!" Gus said with a huge smile.

"Bye, Gus," Mei said as she made her way up the sidewalk.

When she got inside she heard people arguing and sighed. Maybe the mess was worth not being in a house full of adults.

She took off her boots and coat before walking into the living room where it seemed that May, Coulson and Skye were having a standoff.

Mei gave them an odd look as she climbed over the couch arm (not to get in their way) and sat next to Bobbi.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Skye skipped and thinks that May and Coulson are making too big of a deal out of it. They grounded her- why do you smell like cigars?" Bobbi asked as she glanced at Mei out of the corner of her eyes.

"Gus' mom is like a chain-smoker," Mei explained as she watched the confrontation.

"This isn't fair, I'm an adult!" Skye said in an almost yelling tone.

"Then start acting like one," May said in her monotone voice.

"You can't ground me!"

"We already did," Coulson added.

"You aren't even my parents! I hate you!" Skye said as she stormed out of the room and out the back door, leaving the room shaking slightly.

Mei wondered if she could sneak out of the room but decided against it. She heard the front door bell ring and Hunter got up to answer it. Mei sat there awkwardly and wondered what was going to happen now.

Four boxes of pizza were brought in and everyone went and got some. Mei grabbed one piece and a Caesar salad that was gotten for her and sat down on one of the counter stools.

Everyone else disappeared, probably to their rooms, to avoid any more anger.

* * *

><p>"How mad are they?" Skye asked as Mei handed her some pizza on a paper plate and a red solo cup of coke.<p>

"It's just a cover, Skye," Mei said as she sat on the chair beside Skye. They were on the porch, and the white Christmas lights were on illuminating the world around them. Mei looked over at Skye and saw that she'd been crying.

"It felt so real though," Skye almost whispered. She set the pizza and drink on the table beside her. She wasn't that hungry, and Mei understood where she was coming from with that. "I think of them like my parents, you know? And they were so mad… I feel like I disappointed my parents,"

Mei sighed. She knew how that felt, feeling like you disappointed someone that was like your parent. Neither girl said anything as they stared into the back yard. There was a nothingness that hung there in the dark.

"It should have been me…" Skye said with a whisper.

"What should have been?" Mei asked as she looked over at Skye, resting the side of her face on her knees.

"Tripp dying… it should have been me…" a tear trickled down Skye's cheek. Mei was slightly confused, she had never met a _Tripp_ but had an idea of who he was.

"Is that the guy that died saving you?" she asked. Skye nodded. "How does it feel?" Mei asked as she took something from the therapists you see on television.

"What do you mean?" Skye asked.

"How did it feel to lose him, explain it to me,"

Skye had to think of a response. How did it feel to lose someone so close to her? "It feels like pain. It feels as though I've done the worst thing possible. I think I have a hole in my heart where he used to be. Am I actually feeling something right, or am I wearing my heart on my sleeve?"

Skye broke down into sobs, the sound echoed in the dark. Mei hoped nobody would come see what was happening, there was no way she could explain why she was crying while staying in character. "Sometimes, I can't feel anything. I'm just numb. I feel so guilty, I don't even know if I'm alive anymore… how do I know I'm alive, Mei?"

Mei had to think about this. How did someone who felt so much pain that they felt numb, know they were alive? It was obviously survivors' guilt, but Skye didn't know that.

"Feel the pain inside of yourself?" Mei asked. Skye nodded and she wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her purple shirt. "That's how you know. The pain of human emotion is the only thing letting us know we're alive. Without it, we'd be nothing. Simple bodies with no brain. We wouldn't be living, we'd simply be surviving." Skye let the girls words sink in.

"When does it stop hurting?" She asked.

"I don't know. I don't think Tripp would want you to be hurt though, I think he'd want you to be happy," Mei said as she stood up. "Come inside soon, it isn't good to get too cold,"

The girl walked inside, May and Coulson were cleaning the kitchen when she walked past. Mei turned to them.

"Hey, when Skye comes in give her a hug. She's had a bad day," with that, Mei went back downstairs into her shell.


	9. Chapter 9

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

When Mei woke up she showered quickly, and was about to head upstairs when she got an email. She clicked it.

_Eye doctors appointment changed to today at 3:50_

Mei sighed, she had forgotten that she had gotten that changed to the town they were in. Also she forgot that she hadn't told anyone.

She walked upstairs where May was sitting in the kitchen talking quietly to Coulson. She looked pale though, and it was obvious to the teenager that she was sick.

Mei didn't say anything as she got her backpack ready. Unlike everyone else who got theirs ready in their rooms, Mei had a habit of getting hers ready in the kitchen.

After finishing she sat down on one of the stools to play crossy roads.

"Mei, aren't you having breakfast?" she heard Coulson ask. Mei shook her head as she got hit by a bus on the game. "It's healthy to have breakfast"

"I don't like breakfast," Mei stated.

The two adults seemed to have let it go as they went back to their conversation. "You aren't going," Coulson said as he reached over and picked up his cellphone and dialed a number.

"Who isn't going where?" Mei asked as she looked up at the two.

"May isn't going to the school today. She is sick," Coulson said. May, who had moved to be standing beside Mei so she could grab something off the other side of the counter, was shocked when Mei put her extremely cold hand on her forehead.

"You aren't allowed to go," Mei stated. May rolled her eyes. "I am serious. You need to go to bed and sleep,"

May made a little noise of amusement but grabbed her tea and headed for the livingroom.

"May, that's the wrong way!" Mei called after the woman.

"No use, at least she isn't going to work," Coulson said with a shrug as he got one of the small containers of yogurt out of the fridge. Mei sighed and went into the living room. She'd be told when they were going to school.

She sat down on the couch, and pulled out of her ipod but was distracted when it was suddenly taken out of her hands and she was given the small container of yogurt.

"Eat first, play later," Coulson said.

"I hate yogurt," Mei mumbled under her breath before taking the spoon and putting some in her mouth. After she finished the container she took her iPod back.

"Come on Mei," said Skye as she appeared in the room. Mei hopped up and walked over to the kitchen to grab her things then put on her boots and coat.

* * *

><p>Mei was running around the gym with her class. Today, during second she realized she didn't feel well. And now doing this running made her feel worse. So, she stopped to walk for a bit.<p>

That was the wrong this to do though as Filch saw her walking. "Miller! Think you're too good to run? Get running or you'll be doing double!" Mei sighed and soon enough was running again.

She couldn't handle it though, the pain in her throat and the fact that her lungs were wanting oxygen. So, she stopped again. It wasn't her fault she couldn't run for a whole class.

"_Miller!_ That's it! Follow me!" he yelled. Mei sighed but followed slowly behind him. She wished that someone would be there to take her last will and testament.

She dragged her feet as the doors were opened and they went outside into the cold.

"Five laps around the school. I'm going to stand here and count," He said. Mei glared at him but did as he said, very slowly. She felt like she was going to pass out, but did all five laps, she wasn't going to give in.

* * *

><p>After school the exhausted teenager caught the city bus downtown to her appointment. After the appointment she felt as though there was a hole in her backpack. She had to get glasses.<p>

Mei had never had glasses before, but apparently she needed them. They had the frames she liked and the lenses she needed there, so she had them in her backpack in a pink case that looked like a jellybean.

She took another city bus to her home area and walked the rest of the way.

"Mei! Where were you!?" Skye asked as the door opened.

"I went downtown…" Mei trailed off. "Are May and Coulson mad?"

"They aren't home, they weren't here when we got here," Skye said. "Don't do that again, alright?"

Mei nodded and headed downstairs.

* * *

><p>Mei woke up at three and felt sick, so she went to the bathroom to get a drink of water. Except, when she went to take a drink, she threw up.<p>

"No, no, no," Mei said to herself. She hated being sick, it was _not_ her thing.

She quickly cleaned up the best she could, but she forgot that she was in a house with people who were basically ninja's.

"Mei, what are you doing?" she heard through the door.

"Drink," Mei said as she ran the water for a second, paused, then picked up and put down the bathroom cup. She walked out of the bathroom and smiled nervously before trying to hurry back to her room, only to be pulled back by Coulson.

Quietly he put the back of his hand to her forehead and sighed. "You're sick too, you won't be going to school either," Coulson said before walking back to his room.

Mei didn't sleep for the rest of the time, just watched Netflix. She wasn't in the mood for sleep, but was almost when the door opened and May walked in around eight.

"You should be asleep," May said as she walked further into the room and placed two pills and a glass of water on the table before Mei's bed.

"I don't want to," Mei said with a yawn. May rolled her eyes before placing her hand on the teenager's forehead.

May walked out of the room silently after that, and two hours later Mei walked out of the room wondering where she had gone.

She saw the bedroom door opened a crack and peaked inside to see May laying on her side on the bed, asleep.

Mei walked in and laid down on the other side. That was, till there was a knock on the door upstairs.

"May," Mei whispered with no response. "Mom," she tried again, that made May stir. "May, there is someone at the door,"

May stood up and walked out of the room with Mei following behind her quietly. When they got there, and the door was opened, Mei was surprised at who was there.

"Maria!"


	10. Chapter 10

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

"Maria? What are you doing here…" May started in confusion before the young Mei ran from behind her and hugged Maria.

"Maria!" Mei said again in excitement.

"… and how do you know Mei?" she finished.

"I often went to see her and the agent who took care of her," Maria said as she hugged the teenager back and closed the door behind herself.

Mei pulled Maria to the living room and then May walked slowly behind, still feeling drained because of the flu and wondering how Mei had all of this energy all of the sudden.

Maria was amused by the young girl and sat down on the couch, with May sitting on a chair and Mei sitting beside her.

"So, what are you doing here, Maria?" May asked.

"Well, Mel, I am here because I got a message from Coulson telling me that this mission was taking longer than he wanted. He wants me to help end it," she explained. May nodded, excepting the explanation as she and Maria started to talk about how things were going in New York.

* * *

><p>"Is that really all you're here for?" Mei asked that night as she was getting her things from her room. Maria was sleeping in her room and she was sleeping on the carpet in the basements TV room.<p>

"What do you mean?" asked Maria as she looked at the girl who was staring at her with doe eyes.

"I mean, just to help with the mission,"

"No, I wanted to give this to you," Maria said as she pulled out a folder, showed it to Mei, and then placed it on the bed table. "It's about your file. You can read it when you want to,"

Mei nodded as she stared at the file, then turned around and left the room. Maria knew the girl wouldn't be ready yet, but it was there for her for when she was.

* * *

><p>"I'm better can I go to school today, please?" Mei asked. She was already dressed and even had eaten breakfast to show them that she was okay.<p>

"Mei, I don't know," Coulson said.

"Please? Write me a note so I don't have to do PE and I'll be fine. I have a test today!" she lied. Coulson relented and quickly jotted down a note and gave it to the girl before she smiled, grabbed it, and ran off to get in the car with everyone else.

Coulson and May shared a look as she grabbed her thermos that was filled with tea and made her way out to the car and got in the driver's seat.

* * *

><p>Mei and Gus sat side by side at lunch. They had somehow gotten onto the roof of the building (through an unclosed door) and were now sitting with their legs dangling off the side, pulling their sweaters closer around them.<p>

"I might be moving soon," Mei said.

"What why?" Gus asked with a frown on his face.

Mei knew she shouldn't have said that. She didn't know if they even were leaving or not, but she couldn't just get up and leave Gus.

"My dad got a better job in Toronto, wants to go there," she explained. Gus nodded but still looked sat. Mei sighed and swung her legs a bit. "You know, you still have Angelica. You're a great guy Gus, lots of people want to be your friend,"

Gus sighed and seemed to be trying to figure out what he was going to say. Mei didn't know how to help him figure it out, so she didn't. She stayed silent and watched as he tried to figure out his words.

"Violet, I know I can have other friends… but I don't want other friends," Gus said in a disappointed tone. "Who else will eat triple butter popcorn with me?"

"I don't know," Mei said in a fake happy voice. She didn't even want to eat triple butter popcorn. "But you will find someone Gus. Maybe even your special someone,"

She hated saying the R word. It was so stupid.

"I don't want someone else though, Violet. I really like you," Mei all of the sudden had a feeling what this like was. "I really, _really _like you,"

There was an awkward silence in the air, which stopped being silent when Mei sneezed.

"Gus," she sniffled. "I'm sorry. You're a terrific friend but I don't want a relationship. Especially a long-distance relationship,"

Gus sighed but nodded. He had a feeling he was going to be rejected. "I figured so," he said.

The two continued to sit there till the bell rang in which they went inside for PE.

* * *

><p>They had a five block day, meaning PE was after lunch. Mei got out of it, even though Filch wasn't going to let her, May got into the conversation and told her to go to the library.<p>

So, there she was sitting there when the librarian came over and asked what she was doing.

"I'm trying to research things from the Second World War," Mei lied instantly. She had been waiting for this moment, although she had hoped a different member of the team would be there and not her. She wasn't ready for this, not at all. "I heard there was secret organization working for the allies and I was hoping to find out what it was,"

The librarian stared at her, obviously trying to figure out if she was telling the truth. Mei wasn't though, but she was a good liar. Nobody knew it though, she had often lied before she moved with them.

"I have one you may like. It is a secret though, and it is restricted. You'll only be able to look at it here," she said after a minute or two. Mei smiled a pleasant smile and followed her into the back where the restricted books were.

The librarian told Mei were it went, obviously trusting her, the left the area.

The book was old and dusty, the covers were leather with a faded silver ink on them.

_The SSR _the books title said. Mei felt satisfied that she had been able to do that, and placed the book in her backpack.

Then she realized something, the library had those sensors there were at stores. They could tell if you were leaving with a book.

So, she walked out and into the historical non-fiction area. The librarian was helping a class in the computer lab and never noticed the girl leave.

Mei opened the emergency exit and fled down those stairs, then out of the building.

That exit wasn't to be used unless it was an emergency. So, the fire alarm went off. Before any classes could come out though, the teenagers quickly sprinted from the school grounds and into the woods behind it. They wouldn't find her there.

This was tricky, she realized, stealing a book. It was also slightly terrifying. What was she to do if they found her? Say it was an accident? Tell the truth? The truth was out of the question.

Mei climbed up one of the trees, wishing she had her coat and her boots. She was just wearing her old pair of converse, and the snow has soaked completely through.

She watched the students leave the school and go outside. The teachers were trying to figure out who pulled the alarm.

Mei watched as they all went inside, obviously going to be yelled at.

After everyone was inside, she left the forest beside the high way further from the school, crossed, and went into the area of houses starting for the house.

She felt her heart pounding and started running. She needed to get inside, give someone the book. She hated the feeling inside of her. Guilt for tricking the librarian, guilt for stealing a book!

She ran in the front door and slammed it closed before leaning with her back against it.

"Hey… what happened?" a frowning Maria asked as she stared at Mei. The girl was sitting on the floor now huffing and puffing, her adrenalin running out.

It took her a few minutes before she could speak. "I stole the book,"


	11. Chapter 11

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

"_I stole the book"_

This was the moment in which Mei never thought would happen. She'd never imagined herself a Book Thief, but it seemed as though she was being a character from her favourite novel. Except without the holocaust and death.

Well, there might be death she just isn't aware of it.

"You stole a book," Maria repeated as she stared at the girl. Maria had expected a calm day away from Stark, maybe she'd catch up on television and drink some tea. "Do you have a fever again?"

"I'm serious!" Mei said as she pulled the book out of her backpack. "It is the one we were sent here for. If they got it from the college or university, whatever, we can go back. Correct?"

Maria nodded. She had never thought that Mei would ever steal a book. Mei handed her the book before heading downstairs and into her room.

_Hey, can you grab my stuff from my locker after school? I just have some binders in it. Bring it all_

Mei sent the message to Skye before opening the lid of her laptop and going onto Netflix.

Netflix was calm, until she heard talking upstairs. She knew that everyone that was in "college" got home earlier than everyone else. So she walked upstairs so see exactly what she wanted to see. Bobbi with the other book.

"Does this mean we can go back to the Playground now?" Mei asked as she poked her out of the stairway. Coulson looked over at her.

"We still need the book from the high school," he said.

"I got it though!" Mei cried as she jumped out of the stairwell and over to the table were Maria placed the book.

"What? You got it?" Hunter stared at her as though she grew a second head. "But you don't have any abilities or training. You're like an infant in this profession," Mei glared at Hunter then turned to Coulson.

"So, can we go back? Preferably tonight? I miss my regular bed, never thought I'd say that," Coulson nodded as he pulled out his phone.

Mei hurried back downstairs to start to pack her bedroom stuff up. She looked over and saw the file sitting on her bedside table. She was tempted to look in it.

Who wouldn't be though? It was a file that said who she was. Who her parents were, why they couldn't take care of her.

She didn't look though. She was scared to know the truth. Sometimes being ignorant is better than knowing all the information, and if that meant not knowing who she really is Mei would go for it.

She put it at the bottom of her suitcase and started to pile clothing on top of it so it couldn't be seen.

Yup, ignorance is bliss.

* * *

><p>"Billy!" Mei yelled as she ran over and hugged the keeper of the playground. "Oh I missed you!"<p>

Billy seemed shocked, as did the rest of the team who were walking out of the BUS. Who was she and what has she done with Mei?

"Nice to see you too Mei," Billy said with a chuckle as he patted Mei on the back. The girl ran into the base ignoring the fact that her things were on the BUS. "What's she so happy about?"

"No clue," May said as she shook her head, watching the young girl run off. It was odd behavior of Mei, she was never like this.

Nobody questioned it though and thought maybe it was just the cold medicine that Simmons had forced her to take.

* * *

><p>At lunch the next day Mei was back to her usual quiet self. There were only thing that was different was that she was actually eating in the same room as other people. She usually avoided doing that unless it was dinner when they had to.<p>

She had her food set out in front her, a granola bar and a little plastic container of apple sauce. The kind that had the tinfoil top. She, like other people, were going to use the tinfoil as a spoon.

Hunter was walking over to put his stuff down on the table before he made his oatmeal when he dropped a spoon onto the table and it hit Mei's tinfoil covered apple sauce, denting it.

"You dented my apple sauce!"

"Sorry, jeez. I can't catch a break around you," Hunter said as he turned around to make the oatmeal. Mei really had no clue why he was eating oatmeal but didn't question it. When he turned around she swiped his spoon from his spot and placed it in her hoodie pocket. When she saw Skye giving her a look she put one finger up to her mouth. _Shh_.

Nobody said anything as Mei continued to nibble on her granola bar. When Hunter came back she quietly laughed to herself as he questioned everyone on the whereabouts of his spoon.

"Bobbi, did you take my spoon?"

"Why would I need a spoon, Hunter? Please explain this to me," she said and looked up at him with an annoyed look. Hunter held his hands up in a surrender as he bent down to look on the floor.

"Why don't you get a different one?" Skye asked him as she held back her laughter. She was glad at this moment she was learning to control emotions with May.

"Because the rest are dirty since nobody has washed the dishes and we don't have that much cutlery," Hunter said.

"Then wash one," Mack suggested.

"Remember that time I said I was lazy? I still am, haven't changed," he said. Skye rolled her eyes as he went back to the kitchen grumbling about missing spoons and goblins. Mei took the tinfoil off of her apple sauce, then pulled the spoon out of her pocket and started eating her apple sauce.

Skye started to laugh, which caught onto Mack, Jemma and Bobbi. Mei laughed a bit herself as Hunter walked over. Somehow still oblivious to the fact that she was now using the spoon to eat.

"Seriously guys, where is it?" he asked as he started to look around again. Mei started to laugh harder as she spooned the pink tinted food into her mouth. "Mei-"

"I don't know," Mei said. When he looked at her though, he saw she was using it. Mei burst out laughing even harder.

"Seriously Mei?" he asked in exasperation. "Give me my spoon back!"

Mei continued to laugh though until all of the sudden she started crying. Of course, that was when Coulson walked in.

"Mei, what's wrong?" Skye asked. She was still laughing from the fact that Hunter didn't know who stole the spoon but it was disappearing as Mei cried.

"I don't know," Mei said as she tried to calm herself.

"Hunter, what did you do?" Coulson asked as he gave the British man a look and walked over to Mei to see if she was alright.

"Nothing! She stole my spoon!" Hunter said. Coulson looked around at all of them.

"What are you all, children?"

"Technically I am," Mei said as she wiped the tears off of her face. She smiled despite the odd crying incident. Messing with Hunter was her new pastime, she'd decided.


	12. Chapter 12

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

Mei knew what it had to do with. She knew what the crying had to do with. And that thing was sitting on her table across from her bed, staring her down like it was daring her.

That file was going to be very bothersome.

She hated it. She had wanted to know about herself her whole life, but no while faced with the opportunity she couldn't do it. Nope, not gonna.

She needed to know though.

She didn't need to know.

She _wanted _to know

Didn't she?

Mei didn't know what she wanted. She wanted it to stop tormenting her like a playground bully. She wanted the file to stop bugging her, teasing her.

"Stop it," she hissed quietly to herself. "Its paper, what's the worst thing that could happen?"

The worse that could happen was that even though that was the file, everything could be redacted. The words she wanted to see could be gone. Never to been seen again because Hydra was holding all of S.H.I.E.L.D.S electronic files. Weren't they?

* * *

><p>As winter turned into spring the weather started to clear up. And soon enough the snow was gone, and although the plants were still dead underneath them were alive ones ready to be introduced to the world.<p>

Mei still hadn't look at the file, and it now sat in a drawer mostly forgotten.

It was currently 13 degrees outside (or 55 degrees as Skye had put it) and Mei was wearing her black leggings, a grey pull over hoodie with black triangle ears on it, and her doodles on pink converse.

May and Skye were working on target practice while Mei wandered around the forest slightly.

The base was surrounded by a forest, which was nice. Mei was currently wandering around looking at all the dead plants when she saw a flash of an orangey red. Curiously, she walked forward to see that it was not a plant, and her eyes had not been tricking her.

It was a fox.

Mei stared at it, and it stared back at her.

"Hello," Mei whispered. She wondered if foxes understood the human language. She knelt down, getting her leggings dirty in the progress. She held out her hand and slowly the animal walked over and sniffed her hand.

Its nose twitched as it stared at her and Mei smiled at it. It was cute. Hesitantly she reached out and touched its head and the fox didn't move, it let her pet its head.

"You're cute," Mei whispered to it again with a smile. The fox didn't say anything, just turned around and ran off. Mei stood up and started walking, she listened to the crunch of dead leaves and fallen branches under her feet.

It was the sound of the world around her was a nice change from the sound of being inside a military hideout. Everything was so alive, so bright. Although the colours were still bland and neutral, it was different. At least it wasn't different shades of grey.

Mei had become closer with May, Coulson and Skye during her time there. With Hunter dubbing her and Skye as their "kids" (even though Skye knew who her parents were and hated her biological dad).

As Mei walked she saw May and Skye up ahead. May wasn't holding her gun, and so Mei ran up and jumped on her back. The light weight of Mei didn't make May struggle at all, just grabbed Mei's legs to keep her steady.

May knew that Mei was there, as she heard the footsteps running behind her.

"Mei, you want to try shooting a gun?" Skye asked jokingly.

"No thank you," Mei responded as she wound her arms around May's neck. She looked over and saw the fox sitting in the distance. Skye finished packing up the guns as they made their way back to the Playground with Mei getting a piggyback rude from May.

Once they got inside Mei dropped down to the ground and headed off to her bedroom. The fox on her mind.

* * *

><p>The next day Mei walked outside, some raw chicken in a container. She walked outside with yellow umbrella and started walking into the forest.<p>

She walked a bit then stood under a tree, wondering if the fox would come.

Like she thought, it did come five minutes later. The nose twitching as it stared up at her.

Mei took the lid off of the container and put it on the ground. The fox walked over and gobbled up the meat and then stared at her.

"You know, I can't feed you all the time. This is just a treat," Mei whispered. Then something remarkable happened.

_I can hunt for myself_

Mei gasped. The fox could talk! It was a talking fox! Unless she was hallucinating. Maybe she was, hiding out and living with a bunch of secret agent adults and all.

"Are you talking to me?"

_Yes. Who else would I be talking to?_

Mei smiled at the fox.

"Just checking. Where are your parents?" she asked again.

_I don't travel around with them. I am alone_

Mei stared at the fox. That was sad, being alone. "I don't have any either. Except I live with people," Mei said. She realized that if anyone came by her they'd think she was mentally insane. She was talking to a fox. A fox. Normal people with normal brains didn't talk to foxes.

_I never said I don't have any. I do. Everybody does. I just don't see mine_

Mei stared down at the fox. His- or her- words were true. Everyone did have parents. You had to grow inside of someone, you needed someone to give the extra X or Y chromosome. She just didn't know her parents.

"I have a way of finding out who they are, I just haven't," Mei said.

_You should_

The fox said. Mei shrug and stared at it. What did a fox know? "Do I really want to know though?" Mei asked it. "Do I want to know whose DNA I have? Do I want to realize who I look like? Will I still be me or will I be known as _their daughter_?"

The fox stared at her.

"What am I doing? I'm talking to a fox!"

Mei had tears in her eyes. These questions had been haunting her. Did she want to know who her parents were? Did she really? Would everything change around her if she knew?

_You should look. It is haunting you_

Mei nodded. "Will I feel better though?" she asked. "What if they don't want me?"

_How should I know? I'm just a fox_

Mei turned around and ran back to the base. She went into her room and started digging through her drawer till she found the file

That was how Mei ended up sitting in her room with the file sitting on the bed beside her. The tan colour of it stared up at her, her name in black ink teasing her. It wanted her to open it.

_Sung, Mei Zella_

Mei reached her hand out and it touched the folder. It was smooth like paper, it was paper. She wondered if it would tell her everything. Who her parents were, why they gave her up.

Her previous fear was still there though, what if it was censored? What would happen? Would she be able to handle almost seeing the truth and then it happening not to be there?

When she went to take her hand away, it twitched. The papers, which were admittedly very close to the edge of her bed, flew off with the small hit.

They scattered and Mei flew off the bed after them trying to stop them. It didn't work though, and her eyes went to one page.

* * *

><p>Coulson and May were talking about their next stop in the mission to stop hydra (and recapture Ward) when Mei walked into the room.<p>

On the surface she looked normal. She had on her shoes so she had been outside, but underneath, shown through her eyes, she was panicked.

"Mei? What's wrong?" Coulson asked the young girl.

"I want to go to New York," Mei stated. "To visit Maria. Please,"


	13. Chapter 13

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

_**Two Weeks Later**_

Stark tower was nice. It was large so there was lots of places for Mei to hide. Nobody looked for her there, they kept their distance.

She had a glimpse of Tony Stark once but she kept away, he was a billionaire and didn't need a child distracting him. She had talked to his CEO, and girlfriend, once. Pepper, she was nice.

Nobody here knew Coulson was alive, it was odd. Everyone had a purpose in the tower, a job to keep it running.

She noticed that the Avengers were here. That seemed good, since the world hated SHIELD and they'd need a place to hide out from that.

Mei liked to stand on the roof, stare out at everything in New York. Everything was so big, like it need to prove that it was the best. It was the thing everyone should be staring at.

"Mei, it's starting to rain," Mei didn't need to turn around to recognize Maria's voice. It was eight pm and Mei found herself on the roof. It was nice, a place away from the city. She could see it, witness the life in it, but not hear it. It was as though she was the spectator looking on into another life. She was like God.

"Mei, come inside. We're having drinks with the Avengers," Mei turned around quickly to stare at Maria.

"I am soaked and in no state to see the Avengers. We need to go to our floor to change!" A perk at working there was Maria had her own living floor. So, she rolled her eyes but nodded and followed the teenager off of the roof and into the elevator.

* * *

><p>The Avengers were just like average people, Mei realized. They didn't expect special treatment, they didn't act like they owned the world. They were regular people.<p>

When she walked in behind Maria, her union jack converse making no sound on the hardwood and her white skirt _whooshing_ as she walked, Tony Stark offered her a coke with lime.

"No kid is allowed alcohol, even if I wanted it when I was your age," he said with a grin as he handed her the drink, playing bartender.

"Thank you Mr. Stark," Mei had said.

"Call me Tony," he said with a smile. Mei nodded and followed Maria to the sitting area. She sat on the couch with her.

She looked down at the ground as the adults talked, though once in a while she'd glance over at Captain America. She realized quickly that he was who Coulson idolized.

"So, we-"

"-I don't know what you're about to say, so not we," Mei interrupted Maria.

"Fine, _I_ have something I need to say," Maria said as she stood up. "Coulson is alive."

This brought lots of conversation to the room. Coulson, alive? None of them had heard this.

"How?" Natasha asked.

"Fury has his ways," Maria said vaguely. Mei nodded along with her.

* * *

><p>Having grown up in the city, Mei found that she could just leave the tower and not fear getting lost. Well, she could leave it but someone would potentially end up following her.<p>

To not have this happen, she took a subway to Times Square. She looked behind her to see one of Starks security guards following a few paces behind her, trying not to look suspicious.

"Shoulda went to acting school," Mei muttered quietly to herself before she walked straight into a swarm of people. She walked every which way and down to a subway, she paid and got on. He wasn't following her.

Mei knew that her old home was still owned and that everything she had owned was still there. She was glad for that.

Nobody would expect her to go there, or it was so obvious that she'd go there that she wouldn't, either way nobody was there when Mei walked in the door and shut it behind her.

It was dusty, and when she flicked the light switch the light overhead flickered for a second.

The walls were so bare that it was like someone took everything away, but they weren't blemished. There were never pictures on them.

Why would you decorate when at any moment you might need to leave?

The apartment had an upper floor, so Mei walked up the old, creaking stairs to the landing.

Everything was bare and abandoned, but when she walked into the last door of the hallway, everything seemed different.

Unlike the rest of the house, this room was filled with colour. From the walls that were pink, a shade that only a child would choose, to the collection of stuffed animals, concert posters, Harry Potter or Twilight merchandise. The collection of books on the shelf, everything was hers.

Mei missed it, a place that was completely hers. Somewhere that she had grown up, a room that she'd hid in when Agent was angry or played in when he was happy.

She had a new room, but it wasn't the same. How could it be the same, it was in a secret base? This place was in the city that never sleeps, nothing would ever be the same as that.

Mei laid on the stomach and reached under her bed, pulling out a skateboard. She smiled at it, it was one of the things she'd left behind when she went to the playground, and it was something she was about to use again.

After locking up the house, Mei placed the keys in her backpack before gliding down the street on her board. It was nice to be like this again, with her black lulu sweater on, her white skirt and harry potter deathly hallows leggings and converse.

She wondered if she could just stay in New York. Mei knew she'd miss the base though, and knew that she couldn't run away from her problems forever.

The problems would always be there, no matter how much she tried to hide from them. There was no way to do that, they'd always be there lurking in the dark corners.

"Mei! I haven't seen you forever," A man behind a fruit stand said as Mei slowed down as she could talk to him.

"I know, I haven't been around," Mei said with a small smile as she rolled over to the stand. "How have sales been?"

"Oh the same," the man said with a grin. "Want a pear apple? Free of charge," he said.

"Thanks!" Mei said as she took the fruit and placed it in her bag. After waving goodbye, she started off again. Really, she had no clue where she was going. What was the point of knowing though when it will still be a surprise?

Mei finally ended up at an old, abandoned bridge. She sat down on old wood with her feet dangling above the river below. She pulled out the apple and bit into it, wondering how someone made one of these pear apples.

She wondered when she should go back, when she heard someone walking behind her.

"How'd you ditch the security?" she heard the person ask and sat down next to her. It was Tony Stark. Mei wondered why he was here, and not Maria. Really, Tony didn't know her. He didn't even know who she was. She hardly even knew who she was anymore.

"Times square, I just went into a crowed of a bunch of people. I had a different sweater inside my backpack so I just switched them," Mei explained.

"Good thinking," he said without looking at her. Mei returned the favour and stared out at the water. It was rushing below them. "What are you hiding from?" he asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Mei asked and looked up at him.

"I know that look, you're running and hiding from something. Maybe I can help, I do have lots of connection," she giggled.

"It's not something connections can fix, sadly," Mei said with a frown.

* * *

><p>May was getting restless. Mei had been gone for two week and there were no missions, meaning the base was pretty boring. Of course, not having someone shooting at you was nice but she wanted something to do.<p>

She was walking down the hallway when she stopped at Mei's door. The child left a mess where she went sometimes, how would her room be? May had never been in there, and she happened to remember Mei bringing plates of food in and not bringing them out.

Sighing, she opened the door and was shocked to see the room completely clean, besides one stack of dirty dishes sitting on the table. When she went to grab them though, something else caught her eyes. It was a folder, a SHIELD folder.

May reached over and grabbed it.

It was Mei's file.

May knew that it was wrong to open it, so she walked out of the room, leaving the dishes, to bring it to Coulson. He was the director after all.

When walking into his office, she saw him working on some paper work.

"Coulson, I found this in Mei's room." May stated as she placed the folder down on the desk.

"What were you doing in there?" Coulson asked as he glanced over at the folder and saw it was SHIELD. How would Mei get her hands on that?

"Cleaning," May said.

Coulson didn't say anything else as he grabbed the file and opened it. May stared at him, wanting to know what it said but knowing if he'd tell her.

"Mel…" he trailed off. "Remember thirteen years ago?"

"Of course," May said.

"She's ours," Coulson said as he looked back down at the folder.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean?" Tony asked. He was confused, how could a thirteen year old feel like running away from problems.<p>

"Well, as you probably don't know SHIELD agents aren't allowed to have kids if they work in the field because you can be compromised easily. Well, my biological parents were both SHIELD agents. Then I had to go live with an ex SHIELD agent who was a douche. Then he got killed and I got sent to go live at the playground because Maria said that it would be safer than here in New York. Well, I found out that the two top agents are my biological parents," Mei explained quickly.

"That… wow," Tony said. How did all this happen to a tiny thirteen year old. Decided to take the subject away from that, he looked around to see if he could find anything. "Do you skateboard?"

"Yeah," Mei said as she looked over at the board.

"Well, how about you skateboard back to the car and we can go back to the tower. Maria's freaking out," Mei laughed but nodded. The idea of Maria freaking out was hilarious to her.


	14. Chapter 14

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

"You're joking right?" May said as she stared at Coulson, trying to control her shaking hands. "Please say you're joking."

Coulson just shook his head. He wasn't joking, he was reading what it said on the page. And it clearly stated in black printing that he, Philip Coulson, was Mei's father. And she, Melinda May, was Mei's mother. Mei.

The girl who came with only three things holding her belongings. The girl who once went and sat in the gym while Skye did her training for sixteen days and just drew in silence, only being accompanied by the sound of fists hitting leather, a pounding heart and heavy breathing. The girl who once bought five sets of dominoes just to knock them down again. The girl once told May that they were all a large family with her and Coulson as the parents.

They were the parents.

Her parents.

May didn't know how long Mei knew for. She must have known for a long time though, having said that. "She once told me that we were all like a large family with me as the mother and you as the father," May told Coulson as she sat down on the chair. She was trying to get herself together. She couldn't break down. Nope.

"Why didn't she tell us?" Coulson asked. "Wait, how long has she known?" May doesn't answer him. Coulson doesn't seem to notice though. "Maybe that is why she wanted to go to New York, to hide away…"

May was staring down at the floor. While Coulson was trying to figure this out, out loud, she was internally. Why would Mei not tell them?

"We need to go to New York," May said suddenly. "We'll take the BUS, just the two of us. Grab Mei, find out what is going on,"

Coulson nodded and took a deep breath. This was going to be a long night.

"Wheels up in an hour"

* * *

><p><strong>One day later<strong>

After being told about the banquet that Tony was holding, Mei was told she had to attend because she was a resident in the tower, even if it wasn't permanent.

She was going through her backpack, trying to find something for her hair, when her hand hit something at the bottom.

Mei pulled it out and saw it to be her glasses case, which she had forgotten about.

"Mei, are you almost ready- what's that?" Maria looked into the room and saw the girl holding the case.

"My glasses that I never wear," Mei said as she opened the jelly bean pink case and pulled out the glasses. They were stereotypical hipster glasses but with a back frame that the bottom of were mint green.

They matched her mint green, floor length dress perfectly.

"Mei, wear them," Maria said with a smile. Mei nodded and opened them, putting them on. Maria grinned at the girl before helping her braid her hair.

The two then left the room and started down for the banquet room.

When the doors opened and the two were announced she saw Pepper grin at her from the table.

Her dress was mint green and went down to the floor, but from the waist up with was a white lace, while down it was a flowery mint.

The two sat down at the table with the Avengers, but Mei noticed there were two other seats across from them, empty.

"Who's sitting there?" Natasha asked as Tony sat down and the first course was served, soup.

"Two guests that we'll all be happy to see. Their flight was a little late," Tony explained.

Mei looked at him suspiciously but ate a bit of the soup. She wasn't that hungry, but knew there would be a lot of food at this.

They were into the course of salad when the doors opened and quietly, without anyone noticing two people walked into the hall.

"Agent Coulson! May! Glad you could make it," Tony said and Mei struggled to keep her head from popping up. What were they doing there? Well, it had been two weeks, probably coming to get her sorry ass back to the playground.

The two sat down across from them as Mei looked down at her food and suddenly felt aggressively unhungry.

There was some chatter around the table but not a lot, until people were allowed to get up and dance.

"Mei, why don't you teach Cap how to dance?" Tony said jokingly.

"I don't know how to dance," replied Mei as she looked up from her plate and over at Tony.

"We can fail together," Steve said with a shrug as he stood up and helped Mei stand. The two walked out into the group of people dancing, fading out of sight.

Nobody at the table said anything for a few minutes as they all looked for the two in the crowd, but only saw the swoosh of a mint dress once in a while.

"How long have you known?" Coulson asked Maria.

"Yeah," Tony said as he turned to the dark haired woman. "How long have you known he was alive before you told us?"

Coulson and Pepper turned to give Tony a look at the exact same time. "There is a time and place for this conversation, Tony, and this is not one of them." Pepper said as she shook her head. "That goes for you too," she said and looked at Coulson. "You do not have conversations like these in groups of people. That is how rumours spread,"

Coulson sighed but nodded, knowing it was true.

* * *

><p>Mei slipped out of the banquet when it was midnight and went back upto the floor to go to bed. She didn't tell anyone, she didn't want to be cornered by Coulson and May<p>

Maybe she was being paranoid, maybe she was being correct. But her idea was that if Coulson and May saw a chance to be alone with her they'd ask her how long she'd known. How she felt about it. If she wanted to call them _mom _and _dad_.

She went thirteen years without parents. She wanted them, but could she just accept them coming into her life so quickly? Could she accept being pushed into this never changing life?

She was used to being Mei Sung, a girl who lived with an insanely serious ex-agent, skate boarder, artist, and a girl who didn't let people push her around but was still quiet. Could she become Mei Coulson (or Mei May), a girl with two parent who lives on a secret base and has to go undercover to stop hydra?

Since she was little, Mei never wanted to do anything that involved her working with police, law enforcement, anything to do with a gun. She just wanted to be normal, be an actor or an artist. Skate board, get married, have kids. A normal life.

That didn't seem to be the way things were going though, and the longer they went on the more Mei realized that nothing was going to go back to normal.

She'd always held onto that hope, and now that she realized that it wasn't happening… she didn't know how to feel. She didn't know what to do. There was a feeling or total loss of control, that feeling was not notice. Not at all.


	15. Chapter 15

**This is my first Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D story so please bare with me.**

**I apologize in advance if any characters are OOC**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the show or any characters, or anything else that has been heard of before, besides any OCs that appear.**

The next day Mei walked into the kitchen and saw Maria making waffles. Well, technically JARVIS was making them through the electricity, Maria was just putting the batter on the cookers.

"Morning, Mei," Maria said as she gave one to her.

"Morning," Mei said as she sat down on a stool and put some raspberries onto her breakfast.

Like lots of people, Mei was in an onesie. Hers was black with a captain America shield on it, and a grey hood. It had feet too, which Maria made fun of her for it too. It was only joking around though, since she was the one who got it for her.

Mei ate the waffles quickly, she wanted to get changed and out of the tower before she got cornered. She ran to her room to get changed into white, thin leggings with her black shorts and a purple shirt and black sweater.

She laced up her shoes and pulled her hair into a braid and put on her owl snapback. Mei knew she dressed differently here than when she was on base, but what kind of people was always the same wherever they went?

"JARVIS, where is Agents May and Coulson?" Mei asked the AI as she grabbed her backpack and put some snack bars in it and grabbed her skateboard from where it rested in the closet.

"Currently they are walking down the hallway, waiting for you," Jarvis said. Mei nodded thoughtfully as she looked over at the vent.

"Can you lead me through the vent?"

"Yes."

"Don't tell them what I'm doing," Mei stated as she walked over to the vent and took the top off it carefully before attaching her skateboard to her backpack and climbing in.

With JARVIS's assistance, Mei made it to an area where May and Coulson weren't, which happened to be Steve's living room.

"Steve," she whispered. He didn't hear her though as he made coffee in the kitchen.

"Mr. Rogers, I believe Miss Sung requires your assistance," JARVIS said.

"Where is she?" Steve asked as he put mug down.

"In the heating vent in the living area," JARVIS said. Steve seemed startled as he looked over and saw Mei looking out from behind the grating.

He quickly walked over and pried the metal off the wall and helped Mei out.

"What are you doing?" he asked after Mei had dusted the dirt off herself.

"Going on an adventure, don't tell anyone I was here," Mei said with a smile as she walked over to the elevator. JARVIS had the doors open, waiting for her. "Thanks, Cap!"

The doors closed as Steve mock saluted her. Mei looked at herself in the mirror before the doors opened on the main floor.

She walked out of the building with ease and down the street into the subway. Using her card, she got on and sat down. Since it was midday, the subway didn't have that many people on it, which she was grateful for.

Once she was where she wanted to be, Mei got off the subway and went up onto the street.

Since it was busy, she didn't ride her board down the sidewalk, but once she got to where she wanted to be she took it off her backpack.

"Mei!" Her friend Jordan "Jordi" said with a grin. Jordi was a tall, rake of a boy who was two years older than Mei.

"Hi Jordan," Mei said as she went over to the bench where he was sitting. While it was a skate park, Jordi didn't skate board. Since all his friends did though, he was often there watching the bags and making sure nothing got stolen.

She placed her bag down at his feet and plopped down on the bench.

"How is the disappearing girl these days?" Jordi asked as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Mei shrugged.

"You know, hiding away from problems," Mei stated as she looked over at all the people skateboarding.

"So, the usual?" Jordi asked her.

"Yup."

The two sat in silence for a bit before Mei stood up to join the people skating around. She didn't go on the pipe though, she just liked to go around on the flat.

She didn't trust herself not to get injured.

After a bit, Mei said goodbye and started back to her old house. She stopped on the way and got some boxes from the market.

Once getting there, she walked inside and up the stairs to her old bedroom and started putting things from her bedroom in the boxes.

If she had to move to the playground, might as well not leave her things there.

* * *

><p>"Maria, have you seen Mei?" Coulson asked as he and May walked into the kitchen.<p>

"Last time I checked she went to get dressed," Maria said as she placed the dirty dishes by the sink to be cleaned. Maria realized though, that Mei had left to get dressed over an hour ago.

After giving Coulson and May a look, she walked down the hallway to where Mei's room was and turned the handle, only to see that the girl was gone. The whole room looked untouched.

"Weird," she muttered and turned around to see May and Coulson right behind her.

"How long have you known?" Coulson asked suddenly. Maria sighed but waved for them to sit on the couch in the living area.

After they were all seated, Maria spoke. "I've known since Mei was born. Fury trusted me with this information because he knew I wouldn't give it away," Maria explained. "I didn't want to keep it a secret from you, Coulson, trust me. I was ordered to," as an agent, Coulson could relate to that. He remembered when May had to keep a secret from him because of orders too. "When you guys were undercover in Canada I gave the file to Mei, she must have not read it until she decided she wanted to come here,"

May and Coulson thought about this. Mei never talked about what was bothering her, so it was understandable that she never told them this information. Although, Coulson and May still wished she had instead of running off to New York. Speaking of running off…

"JARVIS, where did Mei go?" Maria said.

"I have been told by Miss Sung not to tell anyone where she has gone," the artificial intelligence said.

"Tell me or I shall shoot your circuit board," May spoke up in her monotone voice.

"She went down to Captain Rogers room through the ventilation system, and then left the building," JARVIS said. The three people heard a hint of fear in the computerized voice.

Maria seemed to know where she was though, as she motioned for the two other adults to follow her.

* * *

><p>When they got outside the home that Maria hadn't seen in years, she noted how run down it looked.<p>

The three walked up to the door, and Maria didn't bother to knock, she just opened it. Inside there was some music playing from upstairs.

"Mei up in the room probably," Maria explained.

"Did they clean it out when he died?" Coulson asked as he looked around at the barren hallway.

"Nope. He didn't bother to put things up," Maria shrugged and was about to walk forwards when she heard a crash, followed by a curse, and all of the sudden Mei running down the stairs and into the bathroom. "What did you do?" Maria asked as she walked forwards.

Walking into the bathroom, Mei was standing over the sink with the tap running. The water running down the drain was red from blood which was coming from her hand.

"I accidently cut my hand," Mei said as she let the water run over the wound. May walked closer and grabbed her hand to examine the wound.

"How?" May asked as she noted that it wasn't bad enough for stitches. She let go of Mei's hand as she started opening drawers, looking for band aids. There were none.

"I accidently dropped a picture frame and went to pick it up and I got cut?" the younger Mei was suspicious of them. What were they doing? Why were they freaking out?

"What are you doing here, it is supposed to be locked up," Maria said as she leaned against the doorway with Coulson hovering behind her.

"Packing up my stuff," Mei explained. "I went to the skate park for a bit, but then decided I wanted to come here to pack up stuff for storage and for my room at the playground."

Coulson felt an invisible weight lift off of his shoulders. He had thought that Mei would not want to come back to the playground and stay in New York for the rest of her teenage years.

Maria nodded in understanding. "No band aids?" she asked.

"Never have had any, don't know why there would be now," Mei shrugged as she lifted her hand from the water and opened the cupboard. She grabbed a purple towel and wrapped it around her hand.

"We'll help you finish packing," Maria said as she pushed herself off of the frame.

"And then we need to half a talk," Coulson finished for her firmly. Mei internally sighed, this was going to happen at some point. She just wished it wasn't so soon.


End file.
